Khadir Bet is a tilted slab of rock, and along its northern and western rim the slab ends in low cliffs above the Rann. Chhipar Point is the best known of the viewpoints on that edge: a rocky promontory a short drive from Dholavira, reached by a rough track, where bands of yellow, rust and grey stone step down to the salt.
There is nothing here but the view, and that is the point. On a winter evening the sun goes down over an unbroken white horizon and the Rann turns from silver to rose to violet. In a year of good rain the flats below hold water for months and flamingos gather in the shallows; in a dry year you look out over cracked salt as far as the eye can see.
Resorts at Dholavira often refer simply to “the sunset point”, and there is more than one spot along the rim that people use. Ask your driver or host which is accessible at the moment — tracks change with the season.
What to see and do at Chhipar Point
Watch the sun go down
Arrive forty minutes before sunset, find a rock and sit. The colours keep changing for a good while after the sun has gone.
Look for flamingos
Bring binoculars from about October to February in a wet year. Greater and lesser flamingos both use the Great Rann, which holds one of their few breeding grounds in the subcontinent — far out on the flats and closed to visitors.
Stay for the stars
Khadir has almost no light pollution. On a moonless night the sky from the rim is exceptional; on a full-moon night the salt glows.
How to get to Chhipar Point
- Chhipar Point lies beyond the Fossil Park turn on the north side of the island, a drive of roughly half an hour from the Dholavira resorts depending on the state of the track. Most visitors go with a local driver who knows the way.
- Leave before it is fully dark unless your driver is confident on the track.
Practical tips
- Wear shoes with grip. The rock is uneven and crumbly at the edge, and there are no railings.
- Bring a torch, water and a warm layer in winter — the temperature drops fast once the sun is down.
- Do not walk out onto wet flats below the cliffs. The mud under the crust is deep.
- This is a quiet place. Keep music off and take your litter back with you.
Best tours for Chhipar Point
Bookable tours that include Chhipar Point or the country around it — check each itinerary before you book:
Private multi-day tour from US$843 Ahmedabad: Dholavira & White Desert 3-Day Private Tour
The only tour we found on GetYourGuide that actually goes to Dholavira. It is a private three-day loop by car from Ahmedabad: a jeep safari in the Little Rann of Kutch for wild ass and flamingos, the ruins of Dholavira and an evening on the salt flats next to the island, then the stepwell of Rani ki Vav and the Sun Temple at Modhera on the way back. Two hotel nights with breakfast, the guide and the safari are listed as included; entrance fees and other meals are not. It is a new listing without reviews, and it is a lot of road for three days — but as a single booking that solves the transport problem, nothing else comes close.
- A guided visit to the Harappan city of Dholavira
- Sunset on the white Rann beside Khadir Bet
- Little Rann jeep safari, Rani ki Vav and Modhera on the way
Private multi-day tour from US$481 From Bhuj: 3-Day White Rann of Kutch Desert Tour
The most thorough of the Bhuj-based tours for the Dhordo side of the Rann. It strings together Rogan art at Nirona, the salt desert at sunset and again at sunrise, the bhungas of Dhordo, Khavda’s potters and the view from Kalo Dungar, sleeping two nights at a village resort in Hodka rather than driving back to Bhuj. Rann permit fees are payable directly. It does not include Dholavira — but it ends at Khavda’s doorstep, so ask the operator about adding the Road to Heaven and Dholavira as an extra day.
- Sunrise and sunset on the White Rann
- Nirona, Dhordo, Khavda and Hodka village visits
- Kalo Dungar viewpoint; two nights at a village resort in Hodka
Private multi-day tour from US$737 Ahmedabad: Rann of Kutch 3-Day Private Tour with Guide
A private car and guide from Ahmedabad to Bhuj and on to the White Rann, with craft villages by day and a tented night at Dhordo with folk music. It is the one Kutch multi-day tour on the platform with a review — a single, five-star one — which is something, though not much. The Tent City operates only in the Rann Utsav season, so check what the stay becomes outside it. Dholavira is not on this itinerary.
- Bhuj’s Aina Mahal and Prag Mahal
- The Great Rann at sunrise and sunset
- Hodka, Dhordo and Nirona; a night in the Tent City
